Andrey Skiba

Affiliated media: Nasha Gazeta , Journalist

Incident date: July 25, 2021

Attack type:

• Illegal impediments to journalistic activity, denial of access to information

Who attacked: Authorities

Source: Ng.kz

Location: Kazakhstan, Kostanay Province, Peshkovka

Additional information:

Correspondent of the Nasha Gazeta weekly newspaper Andrey Skiba, sent by the editorial office to the Peshkovka village to cover the elections of rural akims, could not get to the polling stations. At the first polling station, the electoral commission decided to let journalists and independent observers in only through the Ashyq system, which shows a person's COVID status. The journalist could not register in the application due to the absence of his phone number in the database of mobile citizens. At the second polling station, an entry via Ashyq was not required. Still, the journalist was asked to provide either the results of a negative PCR test or a vaccination passport, which could only be shown through the Egov app (the phone number had to be registered in the database of mobile citizens).